But if you keep them on longer, as most do, then they sound duller, but work ok, but after while don't intonate well because junk from your hands gets in the windings, etc.

Roundwounds sound dull from the start, and don't accumulate junk on them as much, especially when you when you clean them... in this regard I am thinking they last longer than round wound... hopefully so cause they cost about twice as much.

So how long are you keeping your flatwound strings on for. Wondered how to tell when they are really are ready for replacement. Keep in mind I am only 2 weeks in to this flatwound experiment.

you unfortunately get what you pay for.. The Thomastick nickel jazz flats last about a year and with a light bit of WD40 on a cloth wipe them down every time you play if you have sweaty hands (I dont, rather very dry). I've got them on my Grigsby and I've heard no loss in tone for the last several months

Friend of mine uses those GHS "eric Johnson" sets on his tele, I guess they're the roller wounds? They're like a ground down, flattened roundwound. I've played his guitar a bunch, and I really like those strings.

I had a set of TI George Benson 012 Flats on my falcon for a 5 months
Went back to my regular 011 Elixirs last week.
They are very good strings and they feel very smooth and silky. I miss the twang of the dyna's too much in the lower strings
They do more of a "Thump" thing than the "Tzoing" thing and I miss the sustain of the rounds too much.

Compared with my 6119, the falcon is also a much stiffer feeling guitar and it;s hard work using 012 flats.

ohh roller wounds? tell me more.. do they come with an unwound G? And do they have the flex of thomastiks? Freakin DeAddario chrome flats are murder for 12g on a 25.5 scale, which is why I like the 11g Thomastik

They're the opposite of your Thomastiks, a set of 10's has the tension of a set of 11's. Fender pure nickel 150's are similar- I play a set of 10's (with an 11 and a 14 on top) and they have the tension of the D'Addario 11's I used to play. They twang like a great Duane Eddy record.

flatwounds last a long, but unspecified ? time..they "last" because, 1- they never had a great top end that you miss like when roundwound strings go south…they are "warm" from the beginning, and stay so..2- the nature of the flat string..is not as rough on frets, nut, fingers etc…so they by virtue of their manufacture, endure….

also great with bigsbys..since they dont "stick" at nut or saddle…flats with well graphited nut and saddle is intonation heaven

thomastiks are the easiest bending of all flats..(thin cored) if you have left hand bend issues, get em..they are great..and pure nickel besides..why they $$$..but they mellow rather than sour with age

vintage style ss flats also have merit…solid under finger…unbending..good with bigsbys..i still have d'aquisto flats on a couple of guitars…precious, since the company is now no more..

labella also makes good vintage style flats..very very smooth..smoother than thomastik..but more tension and duller…rotosound also makes a 12-52 set…monel..unbending smooth old school

chromes i never cared for…feel more roller wound than flat..and brighter than a real vintage style flat..(which may suit you)

rollerwounds are roundwounds that are burnished/ground..ok for an overly bright guitar/pups..but neither here nor there..they are some weird compromise…just as well off with some pure nickel rounds ie fender 150, dr pure blues or ernie ball r&r's

tho if u have an old danelectro use e'm…since danos came with vintage rounds...they are more "correct" than anything else…mosrites too!

cheers

ps-bz- ghs has 2 versions of "burnished/rollerwounds"..burnished nickel roundwounds and ghs nickel rockers…the former have small cores(easier bending)..and brighter than nickel rockers..i prefer

Friend of mine uses those GHS "eric Johnson" sets on his tele, I guess they're the roller wounds? They're like a ground down, flattened roundwound. I've played his guitar a bunch, and I really like those strings.

– WB

These are my current string-of-choice.

They seem to last a long time. I don't have overly sweaty hands or acid-sweat, so most of my strings last a long time.

I use the 11-52 set of Eric Johnson half rounds on all of my electrics.

Just today, I put a set of LaBella Black Tape wound 14-67s on my falcon. I also swapped the bone nut for a brass one so that I didn't have to re-slot the nut for the thicker strings. These are way smoother than the TIs, but a little bit more tension than the TIs.

I like the tone so far.

Note: the only thing that I am disappointed with are that the 2 plain strings are silver and not black to match the rest. I might have to buy a set of DR Black Beauties to rob the .014 and .018 strings so that all the strings are black.

GHS Pure Nickel Rockers are slightly flattened "roller wound" strings that have an unwound "G". They feel more like fat core higher tension round wounds than flatwounds. I actually thought they sounded pretty decent on a Tele but GHS Nickel Rockers in 10-46 on a 25.5" scale were a bit much for my small 57 yr old hands.

I use the Half Rounds on my electrics - 10-46's - and they've been excellent and last quite a long time. But as was mentioned previously, sweating hands will clog them up in a hurry and dull them down quickly. My hands remain dry too so for me it isn't a problem.

I find they sound the same as regular round wound strings but without the string noise and there's also less drag on your fingers when you move and keep your fingers on the strings.

thomastiks are the easiest bending of all flats..(thin cored) if you have left hand bend issues, get em..they are great..and pure nickel besides..why they $$$..but they mellow rather than sour with age

I can second that. I have a hand injury and need a lighter gauge string. I've been using TI .010 Jazz flatwounds and they have been great. Supple and long lasting. I tried D'addario flats which weren't bad, but didn't last. Pyramid strings were not as supple as the TIs, but did sound good.

I never bonded with D'Add 1/2 wounds, too heavy and inflexible to my fingers and brain, "thuddy", cannot recall what the base metal or if plated changed by the different versions.

Always liked the GHS roller wounds, and especially the tone and feel of burnished nickel version.

– Twangmeisternyc

GHS Nickel Rockers and the Burnished Nickel Rockers are two different animals (the naming is confusing for sure). As indicated in my earlier post, GHS Nickel Rockers are pure nickel wound but "roller wound" which slightly flattens the string. They also have a fatter core and more tension. GHS Burnished Nickel Rockers on the other hand are pure nickel round wound and have thinner cores and are considered low tension strings. Interestingly, the Burnished Nickel Rockers were designed with input from Callaham Vintage specifically to sound good w/ Teles. I've used them on my Tele and I like them very much....they would probably work well on any guitar that you were looking for the sound and feel of low tension pure nickel wound strings.

GHS Nickel Rockers is the modern name for the original GHS Gus series strings.
They've been my favorites since the 70's, but I rarely use them because of GHS's long standing problems with inconsistencies and poor quality control. I saw on Amazon that GHS was finally using a sealed package so I ordered a couple sets. They came in the same old open bag, so new picture/old strings. Still, if you happen to get a good set of Nickel Rockers, they're great sounding strings.

I ordered several different kinds of strings. I'm going to put 6 different low E strings on a guitar and compare the tones. It seems like all of the strings I get are designed for somebody with an over-wound humbucker and a distortion pedal. I'm looking for some that would have been considered normal before 1980.

Billy. The strings I had that were considered normal pre-1962 could restrain a herd of cattle.

I'll be interested to hear what you come up with as I've been searching with little success for something smoother than a round wound string but not as 'dull' (wrong word, but it will have to do) as a typical tape wound string.

I know, I used to use the Black Diamonds from the drug store. I switched to Gretsch light gauge around 1965.
So far, I'm liking the GHS Burnished Nickel Rockers on my all E guitar, but I put a complete set on the new Gent and I'm not sure yet. I'll have to experiment more tomorrow when my ears and brain are fresher. I tend to peak pretty early these days.

To my surprise, I really like something called Big Core Nickel Rockers from GHS. They're .0095" to .043" which partly makes up for the increased tension of the longer scale length on this guitar. I might change my mind though after I play it more.
BZ